


Pretend He Doesn't Exist

by ASmallVoice



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Batfamily Feels, Gen, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-28
Updated: 2015-08-28
Packaged: 2018-08-20 08:20:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8242666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ASmallVoice/pseuds/ASmallVoice
Summary: In the wake of the collapse of the Gotham Science Museum, Batman, the Team, GCPD, and a few members of the Justice League work to rescue people from the debris. There's just one problem; a certain little bird is missing. Companion piece to LunarBlade Valentine's Pretend You Don't Exist on ff.net. Told from Batman's point of view. One-shot.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LunarBlade Valentine](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=LunarBlade+Valentine).
  * Inspired by [Pretend You Don't Exist](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/233413) by LunarBlade Valentine. 



> Disclaimer: Young Justice belongs to DC Comics and Cartoon Network, and whomever else holds the rights. LunarBlade Valentine owns this plot, but it's used with permission. Please go read her fic.
> 
> Enjoy

Batman growled as he sped towards the demolished science center. It sickened him that someone would do something like this, but this was Gotham. The key was to figure out whose job it was. As important as it was to find the person or group responsible, the mission for the moment was to evacuate the area and rescue those caught in the collapse. He tapped his comm, calling up the League channel. "Assistance needed in Gotham for the Science Museum collapse." There. Plain and simple.

Now, to get ahold of Robin. He hadn't answered his phone, but Batman could attribute that to sulking and possibly leaving it at home. It annoyed Batman that the phone had gone straight to voicemail. He would have to lecture Dick later about turning his phone off, and making sure it had enough battery life, if that turned out to be the problem. He could get kidnapped or attacked in either life and having his phone off would prove a major hindrance.

Batman pulled up his private channel with Robin. There was no way Robin would turn that off, if he knew what was good for him, especially with the news channels blaring about the science museum explosion. There was a chance Robin was away from a news media source, but it was small. "Robin?" No answer. Just static. Batman waited a moment, growing more and more annoyed.

"Robin, come in." Still no answer. Okay, this was passing the point of annoyance. Batman thought back on what caused this tantrum.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dick had spent breakfast telling him about some bullying going on at school, while Bruce read the newspaper. As Dick spoke, Bruce thought about talking to the principal about what was going on, debating whether it was a good decision or not, but Dick didn't need to know that.

"Your life is truly full of tragedy," he said, blandly.

"Just let me teach'em one lesson! Once!" Dick cried, sounding indignant. Yeah, right. Let him fight back and everything would come raining down on him. The bullies would twist the story and make it seem like he started it and Dick would get suspended. The media would love that. 'Bruce Wayne's charity case: Angel or Menace?'

"No." Not happening. Bruce flipped a page in the newspaper, not really paying attention to what he was reading, but hoping to get Dick to drop the subject that way. Dick waited a minute; Bruce could almost feel the teenage angst coming.

"It'll make them stop! Let me at least _dodge_!" So that the bullies would over balance, fall or maybe punch a wall, and take out their embarrassment further upon his son? Sorry, ward?

"No." Bruce looked up and caught Dick's eyes, speaking firmly, "You will do no such thing." He looked back down at his paper, satisfied that his point had been made, but maybe he should say a little bit more to really iron it in. "The best way to deal with them is to not engage. Pretend they don't exist." Dick was excellent at disappearing, and learning to avoid confrontation would be a valuable life skill. They spent too much time dogged by the media for that to be unimportant.

"Like you do with me?" What? Bruce looked up to glare at his son. He did not pretend Dick didn't exist… often.

"Go to your room." Dick just needed to cool down. He didn't really mean it like that. Bruce could see the regret flash through the boy's eyes. He pretended to continue to read the paper, wanting this conversation to end. Teenagers were hard.

"You want me out of your hair? I'm out of your hair. You want me to pretend people who push me down don't exist? Bye." Bruce watched as Dick left, his typical teenager getup complete with sunglasses to avoid attention disappearing through the door. Good, he'd cool his head off.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now, if Dick would just answer his comm, "Robin. This isn't the time to play at being immature." Batman made sure to let his disapproval seep through. Maybe if a science museum hadn't just collapsed across town, he would be a bit more lenient, but this was ridiculous! He pulled up to the science museum in the Batmobile. "There's been an explosion at the science museum. I need you to get in uniform and meet me and the rest of the Team there. Robin, answer. This isn't the time to pout. There is a time and a place for temper tantrums and this is neither. When I find you, if you don't answer soon, you're going to be in big trouble." Batman felt a strange, sinking feeling in his stomach, but forced himself to push it away. "No patrol for a week, minimum. Answer your comm now and get to the science museum." Batman got out of the car. "I'm very disappointed in you." He muttered. He turned to the gathering of paramedics and police officers, as rain started to fall from the sky. This would make the search parameters more difficult.

"How many inside when it collapsed?" Batman directed his question to Commissioner Gordon.

"The check-in noted that about 180 people came in so far today. It was fairly early, but a good number had left. About 30. A few staff members, but mostly families with young children and some teenagers." Batman looked to the paramedics. The Commissioner followed his gaze. "We've found two so far. An elderly man and his grandson. They were near the entrance."

A paramedic called over. "Sir, we found one more on the west side of the building. Unconscious teenager with a broken leg." Commissioner Gordon nodded. The Bioship arrived at that moment, followed by Superman. Batman stepped away from Gordon to brief them, but stopped when he spotted the aforementioned 'unconscious teenager with a broken leg.' Wallace's red hair was dimmed by dust from the building collapse, but it was clearly him. Batman forced himself to take a deep breath.

What would Wallace be doing here? He never came to Gotham, unless… No, there was no way Dick was here. Although, he did love science… No, Wallace was the major science geek. He probably saw an article about it and came to explore on his own, hoping to escape detection by the dynamic duo. His presence here had no connection to Robin's inability to answer his comm.

Batman realized he had paused for a second too long. He schooled his features and turned to the approaching heroes, all of whom were serious faced. They knew what they were here for.

"You know why we're here." Batman tapped his comm to indicate they should turn theirs on, and started speaking through it. "We will communicate via ear piece. Our objective, obviously, is to rescue the people trapped inside under the rubble."

"Yes, sir." Aqualad said, looking around at the chaos and destruction.

"Superboy, take Artemis and use your super-hearing to listen for people screaming under the debris. Search for loud, elevated heartbeats from those who can't shout."

"Sure," said Superboy.

"On it," confirmed Artemis. They headed off.

"How many people are trapped?" Aqualad asked. Batman paused.

"About one hundred and fifty. Mostly families and children. Some staff."

"And how many are already accounted for, from that amount?"

"Three." Batman deadpanned, _and one of those is Kid Flash._ "Miss Martian, take Aqualad and search mentally for the highest levels of distress."

"Yes, sir?" They chorused. If only all teenagers were this agreeable…

"Superman, listen for the weakest, faintest heartbeats. Get them out. Everyone else is lowest priority," except Robin; "they'll probably survive."

"Alright," Superman said, neglecting his comm. Stupid Boy Scout, setting a bad example for the Team.

"What about… Wally and Robin?" Artemis asked, as she pushed some debris out of the way to rescue a desperate mother.

"Kid Flash is with the paramedics right now. Once he wakes up, we'll ask him what he knows about this, why he was here." Please, please don't continue. He better not confirm my son was, is, here.

Unfortunately, Aqualad decided to ask the question Batman was avoiding. "What about Robin?"

"He's…." stubborn, missing, buried, possibly dead, "not coming. Continue the mission." He's fine. He's just being immature and not answering his comm. He's grounded after this.

The Team and the League worked together for a while, finding people and digging them out of the wreckage. Batman and several other members of the League who showed up went where they were most needed. He most often went to where the weakest, faintest heartbeats were so that Superman could keep searching. Black Canary and Green Arrow formed a team and went where directed. The rest of the League were called away to other emergencies and planned to take up the night shift, as the disaster was covered for the moment and Batman didn't really like metas there anyhow.

"He's fine." Batman muttered to himself. Time passed, and still his son had not appeared, neither among the injured and buried nor to aid in the rescue efforts. The rain seemed more sinister because of it. "He's fine. He's absolutely fine." Just being stubborn. Maybe he's taking a nap? No, the efforts would wake him up. A concussion? "Be alright." Batman pushed another heavy slab out of the way, praying both that his kid would and wouldn't be there. "He's fine." The weight bore down on his shoulders as he put all his strength and energy into the search. "Be alright." The Team was chattering on the line, constantly reassuring people and communicating need for aid and findings with each other. He tuned them out. "Be alright." People were found one at a time, sometimes two or three. "He's fine."

Each person he rescued provoked further fear. He dared not ask them if they had seen his son amongst the crowds. "He's fine." No need to alert the world Robin was inside when he may not be. Each person they rescued who was struggling to breathe, to survive, provoked simultaneous fear and relief: relief it wasn't Robin and fear that he was the same. "Be alright. Just be alright." He saw families destroyed and injured as well as children reunited with parents. So many missing. So many dead. But some hope. "Be alright. You'd better be alright." As more and more time dragged on, and Robin was not found amongst the dying or distressed, Batman was more and more able to convince himself that Robin wasn't here, wasn't part of the disaster, even as a part of his brain argued more persuasively that Robin would have shown up by now if he could. Robin would be in so much trouble when he turned up. "He's fine." Maybe, Robin was getting some scratches looked at, forced into the medical area by overenthusiastic paramedics. "He's fine." Batman glanced at the temporary medical area. No thirteen year old, black haired boy was in clear view. "He's fine. He's fine."

"Batman!" Miss Martian called. Batman snapped back to attention, tuning into the conversation once more. "Kid Flash just woke up! Ro- Robin was in the building with him!" No! "Threw him out just before it went down!" Damn it, Dick! You should have been selfish for once and gotten yourself out. Anger rushed through him. How could Robin think that throwing Wallace out of the building and not leaving would be the better option? He just had to make Batman wor- consider that he was not alright. It was unacceptable. That boy had better be alright, so that Batman could ground him for weeks for the unwise decision.

Batman noticed a stunned silence spread over the entire Team. He felt an inner stab of pride that Dick had made such good friends cut through the anger. Of course, those good friends should have been able to get themselves and his boy out, without these infuriating feelings.

"What are we going to do?!" Miss Martian cried.

"Nothing. Carry on." Batman said with steel in voice. There was nothing to do. They wouldn't be able to easily find Robin directly, and would be wasting time doing so. Other people might die from injuries if they searched for him directly and Robin wouldn't want that. "Be alright." He hissed to himself. The Team decided to argue anyways.

"But-" Superboy started. Aqualad interrupted, tired but calm.

"Team, Superman has been rescuing those closest to death. Superboy and Artemis those most injured, and Miss Martian has been leading me to the most distressed. They haven't found him amongst those groups. Robin probably cleared out before anything happened. You know what he's like…"

He better not have. As much as Batman did not want to find his son barely breathing, buried deep, there would be hell to pay if he found out that Robin had ignored the call to duty and stayed away when he was needed. Robin would be fired indefinitely if that were the case and punished even further. Skipping out in face of a disaster was not alright by any standards. "He's fine." Batman realized that Robin skipping out was a terrible thing to think, and unlike the boy, but he would rather that scenario to be the case than to find his boy killed or seriously injured in this collapse. "Be alright." The villain would pay for this disaster. He or she would lose the use of one part of his or her body for every serious injury on Robin.

Of course, if Dick was buried, he probably wasn't alright, especially since he hadn't called out yet. If he was unconscious, he was probably dying, but Superman should have found him, if that were the case. Yet, if he was fine, and was ignoring the call or purposefully hiding… Batman didn't know what to think. The thoughts were contradictory.

The Team was silent on the line now, except for a few commands every now and then, focused entirely on the task to distract themselves from their worry for Robin. Batman did the same, although maybe a bit more successfully. As more time passed, and Robin still hadn't appeared, Batman became more and more certain his son was beneath the debris, possibly dead. "Be alright." He chanted more and more often, occasionally telling himself that Dick was fine to distract from the increasing likelihood of a dead ward.

What would he do if Dick was dead? He'd have to find some way to cover up that both he and Robin had disappeared at the same time. It was too much of a coincidence. The team would have to come to terms with it, of course, or it would strongly affect their work ethic and make them sloppy in face of emergency. The League would want to have some sort of service for him, of course, and he'd have to find some way to avoid that.

Alfred… How would he tell Alfred? And Leslie? He wouldn't have died as Robin or Dick, really, sort of in between. He couldn't let them find out from the news once the news stations caught word. Alfred had already tried to contact him, probably not seeing the small boy in red tunic and dark cape working at the site. Batman was studiously ignoring the calls. Batman listened to one message, enough to tell himself his boy had not returned home, safe and sound, and then blocked out the increasingly desperate calls. Maybe Alfred had already figured it out?

Dick's room… He'd leave everything as it was and lock the door. It wouldn't do to glance inside whenever he passed to go to bed. Maybe he would move his bedroom downstairs so he didn't have to walk past it every day. However, there were memories of Dick all over the house. It would feel so empty. No one swinging from the chandelier… until it broke. No one sliding around on socks… and bumping into walls and then giggling. The cookies wouldn't taste right, and there would be no more chatter during dinner or on patrol. Just silence. The silence hadn't seemed stifling before, but now… "Be alright. Be alright, chum. Be alright."

One person he found was wearing sunglasses and they had shattered in the collapse. They needed their eyes wrapped and from what he could see, they may never regain their vision. Dick had left wearing sunglasses; they may have shattered as well. Could his boy have gone blind? Batman wondered if Dick would object strenuously to the villain getting their eyes gouged out. He probably would. "He's fine."

Out of nowhere, Kid Flash's voice blared across the channel. "What do you _mean_ Bats told you not to look for him?!" He cried.

Aqualad started to explain. "Wally, we need to do as Batman says. He-"

Wallace interrupted, inconsolable, "I don't give two shits what some overgrown rodent told you to do!" Batman raised an eyebrow, mentally planning some revenge for that comment. "How many times have we said we're family, huh?! And now we're just going to _abandon_ him?" Maybe, not revenge then. Wallace did make a good best friend for his son, and as his son was _perfectly fine_ , Dick would probably be upset if he further injured the boy. The silent treatment would not be fun coming from the chatterbox.

"You _are_ aware that Batman is also on this channel, right?" Superboy mentioned. Awkward silence. Batman started to make his way over to Wallace.

"Over here!" Miss Martian called, flying over to a spot of debris. Batman watched as Superboy jumped to the spot. He shouldn't be doing that. He might hurt someone below by the shift of debris and added weight.

"What is it?!" Superboy demanded.

"I thought I felt- mirth!" She said, a shake in her voice. "I thought perhaps the villain has returned and gloating over this!" Why would the villain returned to the scene of the crime while it was surrounded by police officers? He doubted the villain was that stupid and there was plenty on the news.

A moment of silence.

"There are survivors nearby," Superboy commented. They waited a few moments, then departed, frustration clear in their movements.

"We'll get to you all as soon as we can!" Miss Martian called out to the surrounding area.

Deciding there was nothing else of importance being said, Batman removed himself from the Team Channel to talk to Wallace, who still seemed to be protesting.

"Kid Flash, you will be silent." It wouldn't do for everyone to notice Robin's absence and start scrutinizing the survivors for him, especially if his glasses had come off in the explosion. Plus, Kid Flash was distracting those around with his cries, and as the day wore closer to night, everyone needed their focus and their strength.

"Hell, no! I'm not going to stop protesting until I know he's safe! If I hadn't busted up my leg, you know I'd be out there-"

"-Wasting time saving someone capable of saving himself, or who might not need saving in the first place." Batman interjected. If Robin was awake, he could easily call out for help and make himself heard, or call out mentally if he couldn't speak. He was probably unconscious… No! Sleeping. The Dark Knight reminded himself once more that if Dick was unconscious, he would be dying, and Superman would have picked up on the weakening pulse.

"Saving my best friend!" Wallace protested.

"If he had known you could handle the collapse, he would have saved himself." Batman allowed a bit of his anger to peek out in the truth of the comment. They could have both gotten out of there. _Kid Flash has super speed_.

"What? I-" Wallace's face morphed into a combination of indignance, anger, and a hint of guilt.

"Why, you-" the boy growled, "You're willing to just let him die?! Your own _son_?"

"He's not my son, but my charge." The reply came automatically, stoically.

"Son, charge, who cares?! Obviously not you!" Harsh, but Batman could see where he was coming from. "He _could be dead!_ " Wallace's voice broke at the last word, emotion overflowing. Time to logic out the situation.

"Yes." Batman said, _but he wasn't._ Robin was _fine._ Kid Flash sputtered, so he continued, "Think, Kid Flash." After a pause, it became clear that this was obviously too much for the boy's frustrated, overloaded brain. Batman sighed and explained, hating that he had to do this.

"I've tasked Superboy and Miss Martian to find those most panicked and hurt."

"Yeah, but they haven't found Robin!"

"Exactly." Another pause. Was the boy really going to make him spell the whole situation out for him? Another sigh. "I've tasked Superman with searching for those closest to death."

"But he hasn't found him either!" Wallace protested. Finally, after another long pause, the boy _finally_ got it. "So if he's neither really panicked or injured or almost dead, that means he's fine!" The boy exclaimed, happy. Then, his face darkened. "Or dead."

"Precisely," said Batman, hiding his own emotions and moving back to aid with the efforts. "Either way, the most logical thing to do is to keep doing what we're doing." He called over his shoulder, satisfied that Kid Flash would behave. Superman pointed him in a direction that needed help and he got to work, ignoring the Team and purposefully neglecting to reenter the Team channel. "Be alright, chum."

A few minutes later, there was a great rumbling sound, not thunder, a collapse, and he joined the Team in rescuing an entire buried room. Those trapped in the room had panicked after being told they weren't top priority as their structure was safe for the time being. It would have been stable, if they hadn't freaked out and tried to dig their way up bringing the roof down. "He's fine," Batman reassured himself as he assisted in the chaos, probably wet, but fine.

By the time they were done rescuing everyone from the collapsed room, none of whom were a small, black haired boy with big blue eyes wearing sneakers, the sun had gone down, and darkness was quickly coming down upon them. The police brought in construction lights so that they could continue to see what they were doing.

Batman noticed the Team discussing leaving and turning the search over to the League for the night shift and returning in the morning, but Batman knew he wouldn't leave until his son had been found. In the many hours since the collapse and the initial lack of response from his boy, Batman was finding it harder and harder to convince himself that "He's fine."

Dick had to be alright. Batman didn't know what he'd do without the light in his house. Well, besides the aforementioned, hiding the traces of his son's existence on this Earth. He didn't want to have to pretend the boy didn't exist. Even this short day of pretending was hard enough, but if he had to do it permanently? He should have never told Dick to "pretend you don't exist." If the boy had applied it in this scenario… But he was fine. He had to be fine. "Be alright, be alright."

The area got colder as the sun disappeared completely and the darkness became more complete. Batman shivered, considering the people under the debris. Robin would surely be freezing as the rain wet his clothes. He hadn't brought a rain coat; Batman had seen it on the way out. One of the first things he'd have to check the _living_ boy for was hypothermia.

Batman glanced towards the Team as they continued their debate, before searching for other places that needed immediate help. They were all depressed, and obviously worried about their friend. He could see their reluctance to leave, and completely understood it, but they needed rest if they were going to be any help the next day.

As he moved towards an odd formation of rocks, which may or may not have a body under it, he heard static flare up in his ear. "Aqualad to Batman."

"Yes?" Batman said, irritated and more than a little tired. This had to be the Team saying they had decided to leave for the evening, instead of continuing to search for his baby bird.

"We have located the wayward bird." Batman's composure changed instantly.

"Where?" He better be buried or else I'll put him there myself. There is no excuse for him not being here if he was not buried, especially if he was in the building before the collapse.

"We're heading to the location now. We've got this-" Hell no.

"I'll meet you there." Batman interrupted abruptly, locating the Team and starting toward them at a fast, but even pace, making sure not to stumble over the debris. He would not trip in his eagerness to get to Robin. His image would be completely ruined, and that couldn't happen so long as Dick was okay.

The Team was working on digging through the debris as Batman approached. Well, Superboy was. The others were just standing around.

"Where is he?" Batman barked in his most demanding voice.

"Down here," Superboy said.

"And the rest of you are what, decorations?" He snapped, unimpressed with the lack of motion. On cue, they all sprang into motion. As they dug, Batman yelled at them to move faster, while he helped to move blocks and poles, and to be careful. So close. They quickly made their way through the debris, at least15 feet of it. Dick was so deeply buried. If he had been buried beneath these rocks for this long with all the pressure, his chances of survival were low. The boy had failed to communicate with them, and had been buried under there for at least eight hours. With every rock removed he expected to see blood, and the corpse of a young boy. With every rock, there was nothing, nothing yet. If he had been bleeding on top of hypothermia, the rain, and the pressure of the many feet of debris… his chances of survival were low, maybe 35%, but they found him. So, he must be alive. Batman bumped that number up to 43% in his head. Soon enough, yet not soon enough, the last rocks were cleared, and Batman could see his boy clearly.

Batman sucked in a deep breath. The boy's arm was over his left eye, and the right eye lens was intact, so his identity was protected, but the sunglasses looked broken. That was the least of the worries. A massive copper piping rig was just to the boy's right, and two of the pipes were digging deeply into his flesh, pinning him into place. One was just under the right shoulder joint, and the other was just at the outside of his hip. There was hardened blood everywhere. Not enough for severe blood loss, and not nearly as much as when those pipes would be removed, but enough to make the Dark Knight feel sick beneath his façade. His boy would need major surgery, and Batman would need to get him to Leslie as quickly as possible. If he didn't, the chance of survival would be so much lower.

Robin was grinning up at them, his cheerful little light, not seeming to truly understand his predicament. "Hello!" He called, subconsciously ducking his head to adjust to the light. He was conscious, and cheerful. Maybe it wasn't as bad as it looked? After adjusting and looking around at their faces, he noticed the piping. "Oh come _on_!" He moaned. Batman took that as his cue to get things into motion. It didn't seem like anyone else would anytime soon.

"Superman." Batman commanded. Superman came near, looking down at his boy with clear sympathy in his eyes. Dick hated sympathy. "Use your heat vision and cut off the pipes with three inches to spare." He ordered. Superman did so, sending Batman a reprimanding look. What was he reprimanding him for? Bruce was trying to get his son out of there. The millisecond that the Boy Scout was out of the way, Batman jumped down and hurried to his son. He ran his hand down the boy's back, to see if the pipes went through.

"It didn't," Robin croaked out sounding pathetic and urging. It looked like the initial elation over being rescued was fading from the boy, along with his smile.

"Shut up." Batman growled, observing the rest of his injuries up close. He almost quirked a smile over seeing just how intact Robin had managed to leave the one lens. "I see you've managed to at least protect your identity." Robin's smile returned.

"You know me." He tried to sound upbeat, but the exhaustion was clear. Batman turned to the broken fingers on his left arm. He carefully massaged the muscles to relax the arm and bring it down to Dick's side. It was a good thing that arm was there. Otherwise Dick definitely wouldn't have a usable left eye and probably would have died from blunt force trauma to the head. Once he carefully got the arm out of the way, Batman observed the boy's eye. Most of the shards were stuck in his arm, rather than eye, but there were definitely pinpricks. The eye was glued shut with blood, but it looked like it would be okay.

"How's the eye?" Dick questioned, still smiling, although obviously in extreme pain.

"It'll be fun removing the shards," He spoke casually, the tone of his voice such that he wouldn't scare his kid, "but the eye should be fine."

His boy exhaled loudly, and he could almost _feel_ the relief of the teens behind him, whose view he was partially obscuring with his body and cape. They didn't need to see his injured boy.

"A lot of blood there." Aqualad observed.

"He'll be fine." Batman insisted. He'd better be. Then, he carefully lifted the boy from his spot. There was a loud gasp of pain from his arms, but his kid quickly got situated and leaned into his arms. Batman turned to leave without another word. Robin went limp, which was worrying enough as it was. The little energetic ball of little bird hated being still. Batman took comfort in the fact that it appeared that Robin was still conscious, just extremely comfortable in his arms.

Dick seemed so small there, nestled in like the little bird he embodied. Batman could feel his painful breathing relaxing into deeper, more steady and stable, although still labored breathing as Batman walked, secretly rocking him the smallest bit. He was alive, he wasn't fine, but he was alright. Batman wished he could give him pain meds, but wanted to check with Leslie or Alfred he didn't have a concussion or other serious injury before giving him depressants. It was a bit difficult to diagnose with one eye glued shut and the other covered by a dark sunglass lens. Not to mention it was always a bad idea to give even partial sedatives to someone with the smallest hint of hypothermia.

The Boy Scout followed them. "You're welcome." Superman said as they left the Team behind. He probably should thank him for saving them time, but his main focus was on the bundle that needed medical attention. Plus, Batman didn't thank people. Compliment them? Occasionally, it made for good teaching tactic and allies knew how valuable his compliments were. Thank them? Only when they really and truly deserved it.

"I'm taking him to the Bat Cave." He allowed the Boy Scout that much knowledge in thanks. He didn't slow down. Robin needed medical attention. He'd call for help from the car.

Superman seemed amused, for some odd reason. "You make sure to take care of him, after all the effort you put into _not_ looking for him all day," Batman looked at him, narrowing his eyes. What was he getting at? "After all, you were chanting 'be alright' and 'he's fine' to yourself all day." Batman gave a little flinch at that, and pulled Dick closer to his chest. He glared at Superman. Stupid eavesdropping Kryptonian. Superman just smiled back. Robin gave a little laugh, but stopped with a wince. "You should say please and thank you." The stupid Boy Scout finally, _finally_ went away and returned to the rescue efforts.

Batman kept walking, a little faster now, and reached the car in no time. As he went to set the boy down and secure him in the passenger seat, he noticed Dick had faded away into sleep. He quickly moved to the driver's side, got in and took off for the cave.

"Alfred, prep the bay for immediate medical attention. Call Leslie and see if she's available and get Dick's blood type ready. He was caught in the collapse… He'll live, but he's been impaled and needs the pipes removed… Yeah, he thought throwing Wallace out the window was a better course of an action than getting out the window himself, and then didn't tell us where he was the whole day... The little twerp's still smiling, so I think he'll bounce back in no time…"

**Author's Note:**

> Read. Comment. Kudos.  
> Please go read Pretend You Don't Exist by LunarBlade Valentine, which shows Robin's point of view.  
> I hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
